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L.A. Kidnapping Suspect Arrested in Mexico

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A parolee wanted on suspicion of abducting a 10-year-old girl from her Los Angeles home was arrested in a remote Mexican village at a rehab clinic where he had checked in under an alias, Baja police said Wednesday.

Tobias Summers was arrested at La Mision clinic in the village of Las Missiones, south of Rosarito near Ensenada, said Alfredo Arenas of the Baja California State Police.

The FBI alerted Mexican police to the suspect's possible location on Tuesday evening, Arenas said.

Police visited the clinic and were able to identify Summers by a "Superman" tattoo on his chest, Arenas said.

He was arrested Wednesday morning and was en route to Los Angeles, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference.

Summers was named as a suspect after the girl was taken from her home in the Northridge neighborhood of L.A. the night of March 27 during what police said was a botched burglary.

The girl was found — barefoot, scratched and bruised — some 12 hours after her disappearance, at a Woodland Hills coffee shop. She described her assailants and said she had been taken to multiple locations during her ordeal.

A second suspect, 29-year-old Daniel Martinez, was arrested several days after the kidnapping. Charged with one count each of kidnapping and burglary, Martinez was considered a secondary suspect after allegedly driving a getaway car a short distance before getting out, according to county allegations.

Summers, meanwhile, was charged by Los Angeles County prosecutors on April 3 with 37 felony counts -- one of kidnapping a child, one of burglary, one of kidnapping to commit another crime, and 34 counts related to sexual assault against the kidnapping victim.

In addition to the state charges, Summers faces federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to a complaint filed in federal court on April 11.

The court document (PDF) provides a chronology of the days after the kidnapping happened.

A joint FBI/LAPD fugitive task force learned that the suspect may have fled to San Diego on March 31. The next day, police and agents interviewed a friend who told them Summers was thinking about going to Mexico.

Within several hours of police announcing Summers as their primary suspect in the case, still photos captured the suspect entering Tecate, Mexico, on March 30, court papers said.

A warrant was issued for his arrest on April 3.

Summers was released from prison in July 2012 under California's Assembly Bill 109, an initiative aimed at easing prison overcrowding and was on "post-supervised release," according to police.

He previously served three prison terms, has a history of substance addiction and allegedly has been active in a San Fernando Valley white supremacist gang.


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